TENNIS/Australian Open: The strains of Advance Australia Fair were met with only retreat here on Australia Day.
Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis, who had combined in November to lead their country to victory in the Davis Cup final, were picked off one by one in the fourth round of their own Open in the Rod Laver Arena, and no amount of fireworks could jolly the night up for them or their fans.
The Scud was simply a dud, with Philippoussis losing in straight sets to Hicham Arazi of Morocco, a minor magician of the court. The chief wizard, Switzerland's Roger Federer, donned the cloak of invincibility which he acquired at Wimbledon last year to beat Hewitt 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-4, his racket a wand that put a hex on his opponent and cast a spell on the Melbourne crowd who frequently gasped at his audacity and brilliance.
"Too good, mate" was Hewitt's response whereas John McEnroe was moved to reflect that Federer "could be the most talented player I've ever seen play".
The Swiss was not about to get carried away by that. "It depends how serious you take all this, what he says, or other players or experts."
And he knows well enough that next up in his quarter-final tomorrow is Argentina's David Nalbandian, who holds a 5-1 career advantage over him and beat him here last year over five sets. But, if Federer can continue to strike the ball with such compelling accuracy and elan, he will take an awful lot of stopping and the Melbourne crowds are in for an immense treat, for here is the tingle-touch factor so often missing in the modern game of biff and bash.
Before yesterday's night match Hewitt held a 7-2 advantage over Federer, including an amazing victory on this court last year in the semi-final of the Davis Cup, when Hewitt clawed back a two-set deficit to win 5-7, 2-6, 7-6, 7-5, 6-1, Federer having served for the match at 5-3 in the third set. But the majority of Hewitt's successes, as he acknowledged, came before Federer had started fully to develop.
Much is written and discussed every year at Wimbledon about the pressure on Tim Henman. The lack of success by Hewitt and Philippoussis here puts Henman's four semi-finals there into sharper focus. Neither of the two Australians has gone beyond the last 16 of the Australian Open, although Hewitt, the former world number one, has won the US Open and Wimbledon and Philippoussis has been beaten finalist in both championships.
Arazi's 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 defeat of Philippoussis was the greater surprise for, although the 30-year-old Moroccan has long been recognised as one of the most gifted players on the circuit, his application has always been suspect. Three previous grand slam quarter-finals, two at Roland Garros and one here, are no reflection of his talent, yet sum up his overall waywardness.
The Australian had been expected simply to overwhelm him but Arazi performed with splendid restraint and purpose. He now plays Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero, the French Open champion, who overcame thigh troubles to defeat Andrei Pavel, the Romanian whom Henman beat in the Paris Indoor Open final in November. If Ferrero is not fully fit, Arazi may advance further tomorrow than he has before in a grand slam event.
For a set it appeared Federer might lose to Hewitt again. His first serve was off key and in any prolonged rallies it was the Swiss who usually made the final error. Hewitt had a chance to break Federer's serve in the opening game of the second set but missed it. Then a foot fault in the sixth led to Hewitt dropping his own serve. "Maybe I got a little lucky with that foot fault but I still felt like I started to play better and better in that second and especially third set," said Federer.
Before last year's end-of-season Tennis Masters Cup Federer had lost all his matches against the Argentinian Nalbandian but he beat him then on the way to becoming the champion in Houston.
